Going Under
by mara-anni
Summary: Set in Season 3. SG1 visit an alient planet, but their attempts at a meet and greet go wrong. Captured, seperated from the Colonel and under dire threat, they must find Jack and make their escape. Team fic, with S/J elements, but strictly within canon.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Thank you to AstraPerAspera, who makes me better.

**Going Under**

By

mara-anni.

**Chapter One.**

The air was fresh and crisp, the sun obscured by the white billowing clouds. The giant stone ring broke the silent morning with a roar as its red lights flashed and a great wave exploded out of its centre before being drawn back in to settle into a calm glowing pool.

The pool rippled and Colonel Jack O'Neill and the Jaffa, Teal'c, emerged. The Colonel moved to the right as he descended the stone steps, his MP5 raised, scanning the area for any possible threat, while Teal'c did the same on the left, his staff weapon held securely in both hands. Major Sam Carter and Dr Daniel Jackson followed their team mates only fractions of a second after, the Major holding her weapon at the ready. They weren't entirely sure what they would find on this planet. The MALP readings showed that the area around the Stargate had definitely been used and there were other indications that this planet was inhabited, but nothing to indicate Goa'uld. They were given the go ahead to explore the planet and make contact with the natives if they found any, but Colonel O'Neill, while not objecting to the mission, had made it clear that he had a bad feeling about it. He'd ordered them to keep on their toes even before they'd entered the 'gate room to embark.

Sam had worked with the Colonel long enough to trust his instincts; he had almost a sixth sense about these things. So she descended the steps from the Stargate quickly, eyes and ears alert. She knelt on one knee, her MP5 raised covering their twelve o'clock, Daniel going to his knees behind her as the Colonel and Teal'c moved carefully around the other side of the Stargate platform.

She didn't move from her position, her eyes constantly shifting as she scanned the tree line a short distance away, until she heard the Colonel's gruff voice.

"Clear." He said quietly, but enough that his team would hear.

Sam looked around to see him strolling back toward her, the point of his MP5 toward the ground. She rose smoothly to her feet, lowering her own weapon, but still keeping her eyes on the trees. With only the occasional exception, and Sam resisted the compulsion to flick a glance at Daniel who had moved away from her and was looking around, SG1 had become a smoothly operating team. The Colonel rarely had to throw orders around and knowing he had information to collect and decisions to make, she watched their position.

"This area has not been used in some time," Teal'c pronounced. Pointing to some markings in the gravelled earth he continued. "These tracks are many days old."

"Can you tell if they used the 'gate T'?" The Colonel asked, his eyes raking over the tree line once, before leaving her to continue the watch as he spoke to Teal'c.

"I can," Teal'c replied.

A quick glance showed her Colonel O'Neill staring at Teal'c momentarily, trying to figure out whether or not he was joking and Sam pursed her lips to keep her grin back. "And…did they?"

"They did not O'Neill. These tracks continue passed the Stargate without pause, it does not seem to be a heavily travelled area."

"They may not know what the 'gate is, sir," she said, without ceasing her watch.

Daniel was poking around the Stargate platform, "I don't see any markings or alters or anything that would normally indicate Goa'uld worship."

"Alright Carter, which way?" He asked, stopping next to her and digging in a vest pocket for his lucky cap.

Sam flicked her chin in the direction of the forested area ten meters away, "The MALP readings indicate life signs directly to the north sir."

His gaze shifted back to the trees and he jiggled the cap over his head before he took up his weapon again.

"Ok kids, let's go. Teal'c take point, Carter you got our six. Keep sharp."

Sam nodded and moved to the rear as they headed toward the forest. Daniel caught her eye and raised his eyebrows at her, glancing at Colonel O'Neill's back in question. It was obvious to her that he didn't understand why the Colonel was being so cautious when they had no reason to think there might be trouble.

Sam could only smile at Daniel warmly. No matter how often SG-1 managed to get themselves in trouble with the natives, Daniel still expected a nice warm greeting. He always assumed the best of people, trusting them until they proved untrustworthy. The Colonel operated on the opposite principle: expect the worst and don't trust them until they prove they can be trusted. And then only to a point. Sam suspected there were very few people the Colonel did truly trust. But she just shrugged at Daniel as she took her position, concentrating on her surroundings, keeping her eyes and ears open for any threat.

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The thick forest was set on the side of a small but fairly steep mountain. Their progress was slow but they hadn't encountered any signs of life yet. Which as far as Jack was concerned was a good thing, no natives meant no hostiles. They were reaching the top of the steep slope when in front of him, Teal'c raised his fist. The team froze, waiting, and then sank to their knees when Teal'c swept his hand down; Jack almost winced; obviously he'd jinxed himself, which was ironic considering they were surrounded by a whole lot of wood.

He approached Teal'c, crouching silently. Teal'c nodded his head in front and the two men crawled on their bellies to the crest of the forested rise. There, laid out before them, was a huge body of water - practically an ocean - that stretched out to the horizon and as far to the left and right as they could see. On its bank and stretching out into the water itself was a small city. The structures were all made from some sort of stone and rose out of the murky water. Jack pulled out his binoculars to get a better look. Most of the city was actually in the water itself, the buildings stretching five or six levels high, with wide stone balconies all around the water level at each building, each connected with three or four bridges. Wooden barges were gently moving through the water under the bridges, in canals throughout the city. Jack could see large sails behind the city and figured there must be a dock there and large sailing ships, obscured by the buildings. He turned to wave at Sam and Daniel who were still waiting behind them.

Daniel crawled up next to him and Jack handed him the binoculars, while Carter slithered in by Teal'c, placing her own binoculars to her eyes.

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "Well, they look human."

"This is incredible, look at the architecture!" Daniel said excitedly.

"Yes, reminds me of Venice." Jack said mock dreamily, covertly catching his Major's amused smirk in the corner of his eye and resolutely ignoring the warm feeling filling his chest at the sight.

"What is that offensive odour?" Teal'c asked.

Jack agreed, rubbing at his nose. "Yeah, it is a little ripe."

"It's a swamp," Carter replied, still gazing through her binoculars. "Or at least some of it is. There are parts where the water seems stagnant."

"There does not seem to be any military presence O'Neill," Teal'c observed

"They seem like peaceful people to me Jack, just going about their business. Is that a rice field over there?"

"I don't see any signs of high technological advancement, sir."

"Well let's go say hi shall we," Jack said rising to his feet, the others following quickly.

The hike down the other side of the mountain was easier, the trees much sparser here, and this time the Colonel walked with Daniel, Sam and Teal'c a few paces behind. With boots squelching in the mud, they approached the town. Sam moved a few more inches to the right so she could get a better view past Daniel. A large archway was set on the marshland that acted as an entry onto a wide bridge. It led to the first buildings where quite a few people were milling around, but their activities stopped abruptly when they caught sight of the four strangers. Their clothes were simple, made of some sort of organic weave of creams and browns.

"Okay Daniel, you're on," the Colonel said.

"Hello," Daniel opened, waving a hand at the surprised observers. "Hi. We're visitors. Can anyone show us where we can find one of your leaders?"

Every one of them fled.

"Way to clear a room Daniel."

"They're probably just not used to strangers."

They entered through the archway, the people on the bridge staring at them with wide eyes. Daniel was waving and smiling, saying hello, but none of the them would approach or allow themselves to be approached.

Teal'c noted the way they all shuffled as though ready to run and quirked an eyebrow at Sam, but it was she who voiced it.

"They seem a little jumpy," she said quietly.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

Sam's eyes momentarily left the people standing to the sides as SG-1 strolled down the middle of the walkway, to study her Commanding Officer. The Colonel was uneasy. She could see it in every line of his body and in the way he gripped the MP5 against his chest, the butt lodged into just at his armpit – relaxed and sure but ready to use it in a moment's notice. Her gaze returned to her surroundings but her hand shifted slightly on her weapon as she walked, her thumb caressing the safety.

There was another archway that marked the end of the bridge and the entry onto one of the large balconies.

Jack felt the people's eyes on him. He didn't like this. His gut was telling him there was something seriously wrong. He just hadn't figured out what it was yet. His skin crawled and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled as they passed under the second arch.

As soon as their boots hit the pale stone path large iron gates he hadn't noticed slid out of the arch itself and slammed shut behind them. He had his weapon raised in an instant, as did Carter and Teal'c he noted, but strangely there were suddenly no natives to be seen. Then he heard it - a low pitched whining noise - and they all froze.

"Carter?"

"I don't know, sir." Carter reached into her vest for one her gadgets, still holding her weapon ready. The sound was getting higher and louder. "I'm getting high energy readings sir, but I can't pinpoint the exact location."

"A weapon?" Teal'c asked.

"I can't say. Possibly."

"Well we're not hangin' around to find out," Jack said as he tried the large gate, knowing it would be locked. His eyes darted around the area, searching for any other means of escape, and found only the buildings. "Let's go."

He ran for the nearest, his team at his heels, but they hadn't made it more than a few feet before the noise became deafening. They were forced to press their hands over their ears as they kept running. It didn't help. Jack felt like his brain would explode inside his head and fought the natural urge to scream in counterpoint to the pressure in his ears. Daniel stumbled and Jack grabbed at his elbow and shoved, propelling him onward.

He turned to check on Carter and Teal'c behind him when a blinding flash of light hit him. He felt himself fall to the ground and dimly heard Daniel's grunt of pain next to him before it all went dark.

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**A/N: **Reviews? I'm not to proud to beg. :P


	2. Chapter 2

**Going Under**

**By mara-anni**

**Chapter Two.**

The first thing Jack noticed as sensation returned to him, was the dull pounding in his head. The second, was the vague ringing in his ears. Memory returned but he kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady, feigning sleep, while he reached out with his other senses. He could hear a mechanical humming, but it seemed to be from some distance. He heard nothing else. His head was bent forward uncomfortably and his shoulders and neck ached like hell. His knees weren't fairing much better either. He was always making jokes about the state of his back and knees, but in reality they weren't that bad. He wouldn't be in the field if they were, and well, the jokes did make Carter smile. Not that that was the reason he made them or anything, he told himself. But right now his knees were killing him.

He opened his eyes a crack without moving the rest of his body and searched his surroundings. He couldn't see anyone so he allowed himself to open them fully and lifted his head, his neck protesting the shift.

He inhaled deeply and let it out in a rough sigh. He'd known this mission would be trouble. Why the hell hadn't he listened to himself? Well at least now he knew why he ached everywhere. He was on his knees with his arms stretched up and behind him. Turning his head he saw the gleaming thick metal shackles currently clamped around each wrist. He was restrained to some sort of pillar that looked like it was made of the same silver coloured metal as the fetters themselves, which pressed his wrists securely to the cool surface of the post. With a groan he managed to get his feet under himself and stood up, easing the pain in his shoulders and arms when they were relieved of his body weight. His knees wobbled ominously for a second before they held steady; no lasting damage done. He was in a large, deep room with a concrete floor. Or at least it looked like concrete - you could never tell on an alien planet. In contrast to the shiny steel around his wrists, there were three long rusted iron staircases against each of the other three stone walls that led up to some kind of platform. He could just make out what looked like large glass windows travelling the entire length of the platform, so that they surrounded the room, except for the wall with the post he was currently attached to. _Great. Just Great,_ he thought to himself. He couldn't see any sign of his team mates, which was either a good thing - maybe they hadn't been captured and would come to his rescue any moment - or a very, very bad thing.

Jack didn't have time to muse about this for long though. He heard the sound of a mechanical door sliding open, the hum he heard previously getting louder for a second, and voices echoed around the large room. _Crap! _

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Teal'c lay still on the floor, listening for any sign of threat. So far – apart from the buzzing in his ears – he had heard nothing but the rhythmic breathing of his comrades. He felt the air shift behind him before he heard Daniel Jackson's pained moan as he wakened. Teal'c grimaced internally. Whilst he had the deepest respect and admiration for the man, Teal'c knew that, although he'd come a long way since their first few years as a team, there were some aspects of the warrior that Daniel Jackson would never master. But, Teal'c reasoned, Daniel Jackson had not been trained since childhood as he had. There was no advantage in feigning unconsciousness now so Teal'c opened his eyes. He was lying on his right side and his gaze instantly connected with the bright blue eyes of Major Carter. She was on her stomach, her head turned in his direction, obviously lying in the same position their captors had left them in, as he himself had been, and he watched her lips twitch.

Sam smiled slightly at Teal'c when his eyelids popped open and then she sat up. Her hand flew to forehead with a wince when the change in position aggravated her throbbing headache; as though it could keep her skull from cracking open and her jellied brain from spilling out. She moved passed Teal'c to get to Daniel who was groaning, and watched as Teal'c rolled onto his back and rose effortlessly. She was jealous of that goa'uld in his pouch sometimes; it did seem to have its uses.

"Daniel? Are you okay?" She asked, her hand on his shoulder as she took a look at his pale features and the dark sockets of his eyes.

"Yes, just a headache," Daniel replied, finally sitting up. She nodded and figured if his head felt anything like hers it was no wonder he looked so terrible. "Where are we?"

Satisfied he was no worse for wear than she, Sam sat back on her heels and looked around. "I haven't heard anyone since I woke up a few minutes ago."

"Where's Jack?" Daniel said looking around.

"I don't know." The truth was, the fact the Colonel was missing was the first thing she'd noticed. Even lying there, eyes closed, ears straining, she knew he wasn't there with them. She couldn't explain how she knew. She just did. She could feel the absence of him. And she didn't like it.

She and Daniel gripped each other's forearms to help themselves push to their feet. She felt the floor tip a little under her, but it soon steadied. The hue of Daniel's skin went from white to green, then thankfully back to white again and the three of them set about examining their small prison cell.

It was dark and damp in the room. The walls were made of a rough hewn rock and in some places water ran in small rivulets from the ceiling and down the wall to disappear into the thin fissures between the wall and the stone floor.

"It seems this room is under water," Teal'c observed.

The front of the cell was barred with a shiny silver coloured metal. Sam touched it tentatively before running her fingers over it in an effort to determine what kind of metal it was, but she couldn't identify it. The clean lines of the bars contrasted sharply with the dirty dungeon type feel of the rest of the space. Beyond the bars was another room, bigger than their cell, the far wall of which seemed to be made of the same metal, a large, but closed door to the left.

There was a single table against the left wall of the antechamber. On it rested their combat vests and packs as well as their weapons.

"Well at least we know where our stuff is," Daniel said, waving his hand at the table. "Why would they just leave it here, right in front of us?"

Sam just shrugged and rested her head on the bars to get a good look at that door on the far wall. There was a flat panel with a little red blinking light next to the door. A hole, roughly the shape of a hexagon, sat just below the light.

There had to be a way to get in and out of the cell and she needed to find it. "These people may be more technologically advanced than they appeared," Sam said as she began examining the bars of the cell more closely.

"Yes, the bars and that wall definitely don't fit with these walls, or with the stone architecture of the buildings we saw from the outside," Daniel agreed.

"It is possible that we are no longer in the same location, or even on the same planet," Teal'c said. Sam swung around. Daniel was staring at Teal'c with a startled expression. "We were rendered unconscious," Teal'c clarified, "We have no means by which to judge the duration of our unconsciousness."

Sam watched Daniel blink at Teal'c and his fingers wrapped themselves around his left wrist. "They took our watches!" he said incredulously, then shrugged. "Well at least we know they're not Goa'uld."

"How?" Sam asked, frowning as she tried to follow Daniel's logic.

"The Jaffa _never_ take our watches," Daniel replied.

She grinned at him and tilted her head toward the table she'd taken special note of earlier. "Our watches are on the table with the rest of our gear." She resumed her study of the bars. "And I think we're in the same place."

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"The odour," Teal'c answered with distaste, behind her, and Sam glanced over to see Daniel's nose wrinkle while her fingers continued to work.

"Found it!" Sam exclaimed.

"What?" Daniel asked moving to her side.

"The door." She ran her hand over one of the cold bars, "You can just feel the hinges here, and…" She moved her hands several bars down, her fingers on the other side and pressed her head up against it so she could look down to where her fingers were touching. "There's an electronic panel here, similar to the one at the door on the far wall."

"Can you open it?"

But Sam didn't have time to answer before they heard a high pitched ping. She watched intently. The red light turned green and the door swung open, four men striding in. It slammed shut behind them with a load crack that bounced off the walls. The finality of the sound and the bearing of the men made her a little nervous.

She stepped away from the bars as she took in the hard look on the men's faces. She looked directly into the cruel eyes of the man in front who she assumed to be the leader. If the Colonel were here, he would have made some crack about cliché bad guys.

"You are spies!" He stated in an arrogant tone. His voice was higher pitched than Sam had expected and it nearly made her laugh. It just didn't fit with his broad body and imperious demeanour.

"Err, no," Daniel said tentatively. "We're peaceful exp…" But he was cut off.

"You are Vijandi spies or else assassins. Either way you will tell me your purpose here and where your vessel hides. Now."

"There was another man with us…" Sam said, instead.

"Yes," the man replied with a sneer. "He refuses to cooperate with us. I hope for your sakes you are not as stubborn."

Sam felt her gut twist at the implication. But at least he wasn't speaking in the past tense. It meant the Colonel was still alive, it had to.

"Ah…look," Daniel tried. "We're not...Vijandi? We came here from another world to meet with your people."

"Do not insult me with your lies!" the man snarled. He stepped to the table holding their gear. "I have not seen this technology before."

"That's because we're not from around here," Sam said. "That's Earth technology, that's where we come from."

But the man continued as though he had not heard her. "This is a weapon is it not?" He held up Sam's MP5 and she fought the urge to swallow, and kept her face blank. She really hoped he didn't find the safety switch. "How is it used?"

"Look we came here in peace, if you…" Daniel tried again, but didn't have the chance to finish.

The leader flicked his wrist and the burly man to the leader's far right pulled a disc shaped device out of his pocket. He pointed it at Daniel and depressed a button. One single amber ball of light shot out and hit Daniel square in the chest. With a surprised grunt he crumpled instantly.

"Daniel!" Sam called as she rushed to his side, putting her fingers to his neck. His pulse beat steadily and she allowed herself a deep breath of relief before turning back to their captors with a glare.

"How is it used?" His steely gaze shifted back and forth between her and Teal'c, speaking slowly this time as if they were dim witted.

She stood and raised her chin defiantly. "He was telling you the truth. We don't know who these Vijandi are."

"So it seems you shall be as uncooperative as the other. Very well." He turned away from them and began to walk back toward the door, but the other three came closer.

Sam watched as one of them pulled a red hexagonal crystal from the pocket of his grey tunic and inserted it in the lock she had found earlier. There was a buzz and the door opened smoothly.

She stepped back as they entered. All three of them had the disc shaped weapons now. Two trained on Teal'c and one on her. They didn't speak; one of them just tilted his head at her, indicating he expected her to leave the cell.

She shot a glance at Teal'c. They couldn't do anything. Not yet. He nodded his understanding and she gave him a small smile before she stepped out of the cell into the larger room.

Immediately the door slammed shut behind her and two men grabbed her roughly by each arm, but she watched one of the men put the crystal back in his pocket.

They dragged her closer to the leader, barely allowing her booted feet to skim the floor. She watched him pull a small electronic pad out of his own pocket, no larger than a cell phone.

He turned toward her then with a feral smile and Sam suddenly felt very nervous. Most soldiers did what they had to do. What they were ordered, or what was necessary. They didn't have to like it, and seldom enjoyed it. But sometimes there was one – she thought of them as rogues who had somehow slipped through quality control – who got a perverted charge out of causing harm. They liked it, they enjoyed it. And she knew she was looking at one now.

"I have to admit," he said. "I am very glad you chose not to cooperate." With that he pushed a few buttons.

Sam heard a whirring before a panel high on the wall slid open and a metallic pole shot out of it, shackles swinging loosely from its tip.

She couldn't help it, this time she swallowed.

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	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Whump warning

**Going Under**

**by mara-anni**

**Chapter 3:**

"Stop it!" Daniel screamed. "She doesn't know anything. We came here in peace!"

The leader depressed the button on the hand held device again and Daniel watched helplessly as Sam's eyes pressed closed and every muscle in her body went rigid. A grunt escaped her clenched teeth but she didn't scream. She'd never screamed. And he wondered if maybe it was because she couldn't.

He had woken some time ago now. Only to see her hanging there, her arms stretched above her in metallic restraints. Teal'c was watching, his hands crossed behind his back, looking unperturbed, but Daniel noticed the way his jaw worked. They used the device on her over and over. Asking what their purpose was; were they spies? Were they assassins? Where was their vessel concealed? Then wanting to know what each piece of their equipment was used for and how to use it. Whenever their leader pressed that button a red spark would shoot down the shackles she wore and cascade over her. But Sam would just glare at them and they'd start again. They'd turned many times to him and to Teal'c, asking them both how they could stand there and watch their friend endure such agony; telling them that they could help her by simply answering the questions. But they remained silent. The torture instrument didn't seem to be leaving any visible marks on her, just caused her whole body to spasm in agony. He felt more than useless.

"If you let us go, we'll go back where we came from. You'll never see us again. You don't need to do this!" Daniel continued his plea as he watched the sweat drip from Sam's face, her head hanging weakly now from her shoulders, and her legs no longer able to support her own weight.

"Tell me where your vessel hides!" The man roared, he had been growing increasingly angry as time went on. Evidently he hadn't expected neither Sam nor them to resist for so long.

"If you kill us, you will never obtain the information you seek," Teal'c declared.

Daniel watched the two men lock eyes for a long moment before the man snarled at Teal'c. "Oh I will kill you. It is simply a matter of how and when." He waved a hand at his subordinates and they marched over to Sam, releasing the shackles.

Daniel watched his dear friend feebly raise her head enough to look one of them in the eye, before she collapsed against him as her arms fell.

They practically threw her limp body into the cell where Teal'c caught her. He turned her over onto her back, and she managed a small smile as he lay her down before she passed out with both hands clenched against her chest. Daniel watched the men leave and then peeled his BDU jacket off and rolled it up, placing it gently under her head. His eyes met Teal'c's, and he saw his own grim concern mirrored there. He settled on the floor next to her, and the Jaffa sat by her other side. Daniel swiped a lock of hair away from her dampened brow, and waited.

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Jack couldn't hold back the painful groan as he woke up still shackled to the damn post. Whatever it was they used on him sure did pack one hell of a punch. He wasn't sure if he could use his legs again yet, but the feeling in his arms was gone, they didn't even hurt anymore and Jack knew that was never a good sign. It was a struggle, but his legs eventually managed to hold him up. Of course that's when the blood went rushing back into his arms and he very nearly screamed. He decided he'd liked it better when they were numb.

He heard their footsteps vibrating on the platform above him before he saw them descend the staircase to his left.

And there was Dr Evil again, leading the pack with his fancy TV remote. Oh joy.

Jack waited patiently for the cliché 'you will tell us what we want to know' villainous tirade. It didn't come.

Instead he smiled that greasy smile. "I shall admit. You are strong. As is the female of your company. I have never seen such…_endurance_ in a woman before."

It took a monumental act of will for Jack to keep that irreverent smirk plastered to his face. "Carter? She didn't crack a nail did she? She hates that."

"Very amusing." Jack didn't think he looked amused at all. But he was still trying not to think of Carter with this bastard anywhere near her. "Your comrades were not in such high spirits when I left them." Well at least that meant Daniel and Teal'c were still alive too, and by the sound if it, they were with Carter. He wondered if Dr Evil even realised how much he was telling Jack. Probably not. He didn't seem that bright, just cruel. "Obviously Vijandi operatives are better trained than we knew, but I have found that every individual has his breaking point," he grinned and Jack's skin crawled. "Or in this case, _her _breaking point?"

Jack felt the rage boil in his veins. His mind was assaulted with images of what this piece of scum could do to her, what he may have already done to her. He wanted to tear his wrists out of his restraints and pull this guys throat out. But he fought it. He fought it for her. The only way he had of protecting her at this point was to make this guy think he didn't really give a damn what happened to her. Taking some small comfort from the fact that T and Daniel were with her and that it was highly probable Dr Evil here was lying through his teeth, Jack managed to keep his face impassive.

"Of course you could spare her. You could spare all of your people and yourself. This…" The guy held up the remote he was so good at using. "…is just a small taste of the suffering I can inflict before I let you die."

Jack was trying to think of an appropriate rejoinder when he heard a rumble. It sounded as though it was a fair distance away but it was enough so that he felt the tremor under his boots. The very load boom that followed however was not so subtle. The chamber shook and knocked a couple of Dr Evil's henchman on their asses. Jack would have gloated loudly if he wasn't busy trying to keep his own feet under him to spare his still aching arms.

"Inquisitor!" a man's voice intruded. Standing on the platform, he was leaning over the rail as he shouted down into the chamber. "The Vijandi attack!"

Oh crap, Jack thought, as Dr Evil spun to face him, outraged. "You!" he spat.

"Would you believe me if I told you we had nothing to do with this?" Dr Evil's backhander was his answer. As far as non-verbal communication went, Jack decided that was fairly effective. "I didn't think so. How about…you're surrounded, give up now and we'll spare the women and children?"

Another explosion shook the chamber. The Inquisitor glared at Jack one last time before turning toward the staircase and shouting orders up to the minion on the platform.

"Tell them to lower the city!"

"Yes inquisitor," the minion replied and disappeared out of sight.

"What of the prisoners?" henchman number one asked, waving a hand behind him toward Jack. "Shall I have them moved?"

"No," the _inquisitor _replied. And with one last look at Jack, finished with a self satisfied smile. "Leave them."

And Jack didn't think that boded well for him. He watched them ascend the staircase and disappear from view and then he heard a loud, ominous clunk reverberate around the room.

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	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Apologies it took me so long to get back to this. My muse and I were having a difference of opinion for a while, but I think we've reconciled. And so, for a bit of fun, we have completed this story. Totally. New chapter every day or two.

**Chapter 4:**

The room shook and Sam let out a moan as she stirred to consciousness.

"Sam?"

It was Daniel's voice, spoken softly from next to her. Oh God, everything ached and she struggled to open her eyes and focus on the worried face hovering above her. "Daniel?" Her voice cracked and sounded weak in her own ears. She cleared her throat.

"Sam. How do you feel?"

"Like road kill." She tested her left hand with a squeeze of her already clenched fist and was relieved to find her prize still there.

"What is road…?" Teal'c, who was standing now, began to ask but the room shook, cutting him off and Sam watched his face turn toward the ceiling.

"What's that?" she asked trying to sit up – though frankly she would have been happier staying where she was. Her muscles were being uncooperative and Daniel helped her.

"I am uncertain," Teal'c answered.

They all turned when a loud thud sounded from the back of the cell. Sam felt Daniel stiffen next to her and to her shock and slowly dawning horror, she watched water start to pour in from the narrow section that had opened up between the wall and the floor of the cell.

With Daniel's help, Sam scrambled to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly and she felt Teal'c's strong hand under her arm steadying her when she wobbled a little.

"They're going to drown us?" Daniel said.

Determined to get a hold of herself, Sam deliberately stamped each foot, the water spraying out from under her boots as she stretched her throbbing calf muscles. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I didn't bring any scuba gear this mission so how about we get out of here?" She said, striding to the bars. It was most likely due to the new surge of adrenalin, but she was quickly feeling better. She decided not to question it, but just to go with it.

"How?" Daniel came to stand next to her but kept his eyes on the water, as though it might bite him in the ass if he turned away from it.

The image nearly made Sam laugh, but the pain in her left hand as she pried her own fingers open sobered her. Boy, she'd really had a death grip on this thing, she thought. She'd planned on revealing the crystal to her friends rather dramatically and triumphantly, unfortunately the circumstances didn't allow for gloating right now.

"You acquired the device needed to open the doors. Impressive." Okay, well maybe a little gloating. She shot the Jaffa a smug grin. And strangely felt a little glow of pleasure at the man's praise. She had a great deal of respect for Teal'c.

"Really?" Daniel finally seemed to trust that the water now lapping around their ankles wasn't going to catch him unawares, and turned to watch as she felt around the bars to find the little control panel. "When did you do that? _How_ did you do that?"

"Found it!" she said, instead of answering – she didn't think it was the time to go into Pick-Pocketing Captors 101 – and inserted the crystal. There was a buzz and the door swung open. They splashed their way to the table that held their gear. Quickly, expertly, they slipped into their combat vests and attached their weapons. Sam handed the Colonel's MP5 to Daniel. "Don't use it unless you have to Daniel. We need to try and sneak out of here and weapons fire isn't exactly conducive to stealth." She turned to Teal'c as she pulled her zat – her side arm of choice lately – out of its holster at her thigh. He nodded his understanding and took his own zat into his hands, positioning himself at the door while she inserted the crystal into the control panel and the light blinked green.

The dim passageway in which they found themselves was deserted. Not even one guard posted at their door. And Sam instantly realised why. It wasn't just their cell that was being flooded, it was the whole level. This was a problem. They had to find a way out, and fast. And they had to find Colonel O'Neill while they were at it. Sam felt fear stab into her ribs. Where was he?

SG1SG1SG1SG1

"The water is rising rapidly," Teal'c said as they trotted down the hall, the water now knee high.

"He has to be around here somewhere." Sam had chosen to abandon stealth for speed when it became clear there really were no guards and the water was not letting up. They had to find the Colonel; if he was on this level he didn't have much time.

They had checked every cell and room along the way, and still there was no sign of him. Sam was taking point now, she had her weapon raised in front of her and leapt over the water, when she was forced to an abrupt stop. The passageway they'd been following branched off into two directions and she took a careful glance down both, but it was too dark to see anything significant. Her apprehension for the Colonel's welfare grew, but she swallowed it and was all business when she turned to her team mates.

"There's no time. We have to split up. Teal'c, you and Daniel take the right," she ordered with a wave of her zat toward the east passageway. "I'll go left. Radio contact every five minutes." She plugged her radio ear piece into her ear with Daniel and Teal'c following suit. "Let's go." She started down the left passageway, eyes and ears open, leaving Teal'c to take the right with Daniel following him closely.

The passage was dark, but the overhead lights continued to work even as the water rose to Sam's thighs, casting a soft glow over the water and making the rough hewn walls ripple. She sped down as fast as she could with the water now impeding her progress. She knew that eventually she wouldn't be able to reach the floor any longer. They had found only one way up so far – back near their cell. She wouldn't abandon the search for Colonel O'Neill, but she couldn't risk Teal'c and Daniel, either. Contacting Teal'c, she ordered them to return to their original location and get out once the water reached their waists. Daniel's protest sounded in her ear, but in the background she heard Teal'c shush him - just by simply speaking his name - before she had a chance to respond. She was grateful for it. After a brief hesitation, Teal'c assented. She was relatively certain that would give them enough time to make it out. Meanwhile she herself continued deeper into the underwater compound, and tried not to think about the physiology of drowning or the myriad of microbes that almost certainly lived in this murky water.

A shadow loomed several yards ahead and Sam slowed, angling her body closer to the wall and training her weapon on the spot. She was able to see it more clearly as she neared. It was an opening in the wall and she approached it carefully making certain there were no hostiles ready to pounce on her. But just like everywhere else down here, there wasn't another soul in sight.

Sam keyed her radio as she continued on. "Teal'c, Daniel, come in?"

"Yeah Sam, we're here," Daniel's voice sounded in her ear.

"I found another way up. It looks like a steep staircase, but its closer."

"Okay. Hold on, Teal'c sees something."

Sam felt herself hold her breath for a moment and had to force herself to breathe, continuing on past the staircase. The passage ahead opened up into a wide chamber. It was more brightly lit by the overhead lights, but there were no doors or openings anywhere. If the room had a purpose she couldn't tell what it was.

"Major Carter. There is a stairway here also." This time Teal'c spoke directly to her.

Sam thought for a moment. "Teal'c, there's nothing down here. I'm heading up. Complete the sweep of your area and then head up those stairs...use caution." They didn't bust out of their cell just to get themselves shot, or to reveal they'd escaped. Their best defence now was stealth and surprise.

"Understood," Teal'c replied.

If Teal'c and Daniel didn't find him, then the Colonel wasn't down here. Which meant he was up, and Sam felt that was probably the best news she'd had all day; on the upper levels he would be safe from the flooding. She held onto that one thought like she held onto her zat. She turned away from the chamber and headed for the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

Sam heard her own boots scuff the shiny floor and winced. She had to be more careful than that, no matter how anxious she was becoming or how often she felt her thigh muscles spasm – a painful aftershock from the battering that evil prick had delivered.

Daniel and Teal'c hadn't had any more success at finding the Colonel than she, and they too were now searching somewhere on the upper levels. When she'd reached the top of the dark stairwell it had been like entering a totally different world. There was no ancient, roughened stone here. The walls and floor on this level seemed to be made of the same metal as the bars in the cell…as the shackles that had been clamped to her wrists. She shook off that thought, taking a moment to stretch her aching muscles. This level was blissfully dry, but for that very reason there was a far greater chance that it was populated.

She pressed on.

It was well lit, so she kept as close to the walls as she could. She heard a humming and followed it. Peering around a corner she saw a long glass wall. Sam rounded the corner warily, her zat ready. The room seemed just as abandoned as the rest of the complex. She found a glass door on the far right and carefully slid it open.

What looked to be computer stations lined both the metallic walls; the fourth wall, opposite her, was also glass. The long black panels lining the walls, that Sam assumed acted as the computer displays, remained dark, except for one. There was a revolving image displayed there, but Sam pushed away the familiar twinge of anticipation - her fingers almost itching to get her hands on the alien technology - as she proceeded toward the only way out she could see.

This glass door had been left opened. And as she neared it she could hear the sound of bubbling water. Beyond the glass was a platform with a single guard rail, but made of a different kind of metal that was old and rusty and out of place amidst the highly advanced technological materials behind her. Across a fairly vast space Sam could see another similar platform, with a steep staircase heading down. Taking a cautious step out of the door and onto the platform she swept the area she could see with her zat. But there was no one here either. She realised that the platform was actually one construction that continued around the whole room, but for one wall.

Sam approached the guard rail and peered down into the large space.

"Sir!"

The Colonel's head snapped up, "Carter!" She saw the flicker of relief cross his features before he schooled them and eyed the water quickly creeping up and over his hips. "Err…a little help here, Carter?"

"Yes, sir."

She found herself having to turn away. To squeeze her eyes shut and take a deep breath. The Colonel seemed okay, so why did she feel this sudden tightening in her chest? Fatigue, she rationalised. Being cold and wet after having endured that battering earlier, was taking its toll on her body. That's all it was. She had to push through it; she would have time to rest when they were all safely back at the SGC. She gripped her radio and hoped the Colonel hadn't noticed her momentary hesitation. "Teal'c, Daniel," she said, opening her eyes and facing him. "I found him. He's okay."

"Speak for yourself," the Colonel griped, which just served to reassure Sam that it was true. She told her team mates to continue their recon but to begin moving in her direction, scouting for an escape route along the way.

"Carter!" Colonel O'Neill growled impatiently and Sam held a hand up to indicate they should be quiet. Spotting the stairs that led down into the chamber from her platform, she bolted down them and into the water.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

"Teal'c, don't you find it a little strange that there's no one around? I mean, sure, I can understand why no one was down stairs but…look at this place." Daniel ran his hand against the smooth wall. He was relieved to hear Sam say she'd found Jack, but he found it truly fascinating that from the outside these people had seemed a simple agrarian society. "Obviously this society has made some huge technological advances since this city was first built. What's interesting is the way they've incorporated the new into the old. It seems almost as though they went right from the Iron Age to…to…this," he continued, waving his arm around. "Skipping a few levels of advancement along the way. The question is…" He was silenced by Teal'c's upraised arm.

They entered another room.

"Barracks?" he whispered.

"It would seem so," Teal'c replied, his voice also low.

Bunk beds lined the walls. Boots and uniforms, like those worn by the men that had paid them a visit in their cell, could be seen through closet doors left opened.

"Um, Teal'c? I'm not sure we want to be in here when the troops come home." Daniel was feeling decidedly uneasy standing in this room.

"Indeed."

They made their way toward one of the doorways, and out into another passage. "This place is like a rabbit warren," he complained.

But this time the passage opened into another, much wider staircase. It lead up, and that was good Daniel supposed, since up in this case probably meant out. He crept behind Teal'c, hugging the wall and froze with his heart pounding in his chest when he heard a bellow from somewhere above them.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

"So, where ya been, Carter?" Jack asked as he watched Sam wade through the water, which was almost chest high on her. She held her zat in the air, keeping it dry.

"Sorry, sir. This place is a labyrinth of passages, doorways and staircases," she replied. He opened his mouth but she continued, answering his question before he could ask it. "Daniel and Teal'c are fine. They're searching the east side of..." she shrugged, "whatever this place is."

She reached him and immediately pounced at the shackles he wore. He craned his neck, but she was blocking his view. He concentrated on the warmth of her hands, tracking their movement over his chilled skin where they brushed against him, as she tested the restraints. But somehow he didn't think she'd have much luck.

Eventually she gave up on finesse and started pulling and tugging, her efforts getting ever more desperate. "I'm going to try hammering it, sir. Just hold still," she said and before he could protest she slammed the butt end of her MP5 where the shackles joined the pillar.

Twice more she hammered at the post, before he felt her fingers pulling at the clamps again. "Carter?" he tried, but she kept alternately pulling and hammering.

"Carter!" he snapped, loudly. She froze, and he felt the water lap around his stomach when she moved to face him. "Forget to bring a key?" There was no smile from her this time and she seemed out of breath.

"There isn't even a key hole," she told him, shaking her head. "It's no use, sir. The metallic material is too strong, it didn't even scratch when I hit it." She reached out and touched the clamp around his wrist. "These restraints must also be computer activated." Jack chose to ignore the 'also' part, and instead concentrated on the familiar light that sparked in her eyes for a moment and meant she had an idea. "There are computer consoles in the room above."

"The big bad guy had a remote control thingy."

"Yes sir, I know." Her voice was steady when she spoke, but there was something about the tone of it; too neutral, too controlled. Jack scowled, he didn't want to ask how she knew, and he didn't need to. He wanted to get his hands on Dr Evil and break his neck. "But that can't be the only control mechanism."

"Carter?"

"The computer room's just up those stairs...I'll be right back, sir." She started to bob back in the direction of the now partially submerged staircase.

Jack eyeballed the ever-rising water as it climbed over his stomach. "I'll just wait here, then."

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Teal'c signalled for Daniel to remain where he was, and then slowly, pressed against the far wall, he ascended the stairs. He wasn't gone more than a few seconds before Daniel caught sight of him silently descending...backwards.

He touched his lips to indicate silence and led Daniel back out through the barracks they'd found and into the wider corridors, before he spoke. "The upper levels are inhabited. I saw only three sentries standing post, but I cannot estimate how many are beyond them. It will most likely lead to an exit from this place, but we should explore the remainder of this level."

Daniel nodded, glad to be away from the barracks, and followed Teal'c. He was about to relay what they'd found to Sam when he was interrupted by her own transmission.

"Teal'c?"

"Here."

"The Colonel is restrained and the water rising rapidly. I haven't been able to get him free yet. Stand by." Daniel let out a huff of impatience at these words and Teal'c inclined his head in agreement. Waiting to hear news about the welfare of a friend was so much harder than being there, able to help. After what seemed an eternity, but was probably less than five minutes, she spoke again. She thought she could see them on some computer monitor, she said, and asked them to do what felt to Daniel, like a poor imitation of a line dance. Satisfied, she gave them directions; apparently she'd found some sort of map.

"Did her voice sound a little strange to you?" Daniel whispered. But Teal'c just twitched an eyebrow and started moving again. Daniel followed as closely as he could, staying behind the bigger man and trusting him to lead the way. He was worried about Sam and Jack. She'd said she couldn't get him free, but it was her clipped tone that had him concerned. She sounded edgy, and that was a rarity for Sam when they were in the field. He'd seen and heard her angry or frustrated any number of times, but truly anxious...well he couldn't think of an example. And she'd been hurt. My God, she'd been horrendously tortured, and now she was alone somewhere in this enormous tangled web of a construction, trying to free Jack. Back in the cell, as they'd made their escape, she'd said she was fine and it hadn't caused any lasting effects. But Daniel was starting to figure out that when it came to Sam 'fine' could take on any number of meanings. His anxiety for his friends was growing with every step. Teal'c was moving steadily, and though he understood the need to be careful, he wished they could speed up the pace.

There were too many intersections that Teal'c kept pausing and spying around and it was slowing them down. Daniel could feel a small tickle of apprehension race up his spine. It caused his heart rate to increase, and he felt a tremor in his thigh muscles that he recognised as a sign of adrenalized fear. Jack had once told him that the best way to combat fear was to concentrate on the task at hand – on what you were doing, what was around you, what you could hear, see – one step at a time. So he forced his eyes away from Teal'c's back to glance around this alien stronghold and re-focused his thoughts. Maybe it wasn't quite what Jack had meant, but Daniel had his own sphere of expertise.

The walls and floor were shiny and smooth, with windows sometimes separating rooms. But gone was any evidence of the rock they'd seen earlier. Daniel decided that these people must have deliberately left the old intact, and integrated their technology into it for the express purpose of hiding it from outsiders. But he no longer voiced his musings aloud, not since Teal'c had seen the soldiers. He made a mental note to discuss his theory with Sam when they found her. What was most strange however, was the utter lack of decoration. Everything was steel and glass. Clean lines. No floor coverings, vases, no paintings or pictures on the walls. Nothing. If this was all the society left behind when it disappeared into history, it would be any future archaeologist's nightmare.

Teal'c stopped and Daniel – lost in thought – teetered on his toes to avoid running into him. He peered around yet another corner and when he turned back, the dark cloud that had descended over his features made Daniel uncomfortable. They pulled back a short distance, crouching under a window in the wall.

"There is activity in the next room, Daniel Jackson."

As he spoke, they heard footsteps and Daniel, carefully spying through the window, could see uniformed men and women coming and going from the room.

He twisted, resting his back against the wall. "We can't just sit here. I don't suppose Sam gave you an alternate route?"

"She did not."

"Great...now what?"

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Sam had hauled herself over the banister just as the water was threatening to reach her radio. It was water-proofed of course, but it wasn't designed for full submersion. With no time left for caution she bolted into the computer room and to the active console.

After sending another quick message to Daniel and Teal'c, she turned her concentration to the computer. Nothing was labelled - not that she imagined she'd be able to read the alien words anyway - so she just went by instinct. Mathematics was a universal language, and thus so was technology, for the most part. She was getting good at manipulating alien technologies just by considering where something _should_ be, or how it _should_ work. Usually she was right.

She studied the revolving diagram for a moment before tapping at the controls. A map. Not exactly what she was looking for but useful, nonetheless. A few more taps. Humanoid shaped green splodges. A lot of them, moving quickly here and there. Wait. Now this was interesting... two shapes, well away from the others and still. She spoke into her radio – move left, now right – yes, it was them. A few more keystrokes and the map tilted again. She gave Teal'c directions and left him to figure out the rest. This wasn't what was needed to release the Colonel.

Think logically, enter another command. Sam's mind sank into the task.

The display in front of her changed and she used it to help her guide the computer to where she wanted it to go. She knew she could find what she wanted; she was nearly there. The city's Master controls: maybe she could stop the water rising...no, the water wasn't rising technically, and these controls were restricted. She moved on. Here. Environmental controls. Lights. Life support in the sealed sections. Blast doors. She was nearly there; she just needed a little more time...

"Carter!" Colonel O'Neill's shout floated up to her as an echo, a slightly panicked echo, and Sam jumped at the intrusion into her concentration.

Glad no one was around to see her so easily startled, she ran out the door and onto the section of platform nearest him.

"Colonel." It was the only thing she could squeeze out of her own panicked throat. He was spitting at the water as it lapped up over his neck and threatened to overtake the chin he was stretching as far as he could out of the water.

She was out of time.

"I don't mean to rush you, Carter..."

"Hold on, sir," she called, and grabbed at her radio, unhitching her MP5 at the same time. She heard the Colonel's startled voice asking her what she was doing, but she had no time to reply.

SG1SG1SG1SG1

Jack watched Carter's zat hit the floor of the platform with a clatter, followed closely by her MP5.

"Teal'c, come in," she all but shouted into the mouthpiece. She had unplugged her earpiece by the time Teal'c replied, and Jack could hear the deep, rumbling voice of his friend.

"Go ahead, Major Carter."

"Teal'c. The water's rising too fast, I can't get him loose in time. There are computers here in the section above us. I need you and Daniel to get over here ASAP." Her voice was loud, her words rushed. Jack couldn't remember ever hearing her talk that way.

"We have encountered a difficulty. This world's warriors are stationed between our sections. We could incapacitate them, but they would surely sound the alarm upon awakening or being discovered by others." Jack closed his eyes a second. This was getting worse by the moment.

He spat some more of the foul tasting water out of his mouth and when he opened his eyes, he was staring up into the deep blue of Carter's. She stood atop the platform, her gaze fixed on him for one endless moment and then she turned away just slightly, and Jack knew what she was going to say to Teal'c. He tried to muster up some sympathy for the poor bastards on the wrong end of Teal'c's staff weapon, but looking up at Carter and imagining her convulsing while some red bolt surged over her...

In a low, resolute and dispassionate tone of voice that made him shudder not from the cold, Jack heard her speak into the radio. "Do whatever you have to do, just get here now," she paused, just one second. "Teal'c?"

"Yes, Major Carter."

"Don't leave any evidence of our escape behind you."

Jack winced.

She was right to give that order, of course. They'd been captured and harmed, and essentially killed by these guys. Times like this you had to put sentiment aside. If they were discovered, they _would _be killed. He would have done the same. And that was, perhaps, what bothered him most. He liked that Carter still had sentiment, and he didn't want her to lose it. But she also had the wherewithal to do what was necessary. Still, he didn't have to like it.

"Understood. Teal'c out." And with that, she tossed the radio next to her zat.

What was she doing?

"Carter, what exactly do you think you're doing?" He gurgled, doing his best to float with his arms pulled behind his back. He had a fair idea of her intentions now, but still couldn't quite come to grips with it. It was nuts. And more than that, it was risky. This had gone on long enough. "You need to get back to T and Daniel, and get the hell outta here," he tried to shout, but it was an echo in his ears and he couldn't tell if he'd pulled it off. "Hear me, Major? That's an order, dammit!"

If she heard, she gave no indication of it, and the last he could see before the water engulfed his face was her frantically unzipping her FLC vest and tearing it off her shoulders.

~~~SG1~~~


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Teal'c?" Major Carter's tinny voice asked over the radio.

"Yes, Major Carter," Teal'c replied.

"Don't leave any evidence of our escape behind you."

Teal'c understood immediately what she meant. He shifted the grip on his staff weapon, weighing his options. They could not use the staff or the human projectile weapons, as the noise would instantly alert the native warriors, but they had only one Zatnikotel between them.

"I've been watching them, Teal'c. They come and go, but there isn't any rhyme or reason to it. I think they're just passing through."

Teal'c cocked an eyebrow. If Daniel Jackson's observations were correct, this may not be as difficult as he had first feared. With his back pressed against the wall, Teal'c easily slid up and peered through the same window under which his friend was crouched. He waited several minutes, searching for patterns of movement, enemy numbers, anything that could give him a tactical advantage. It was galling. He understood from Major Carter's tone that O'Neill was in dire peril, and he shared Daniel Jackson's concerns for her own physical condition, but a good warrior knew to be patient and so he waited and watched. Finally, when he was satisfied, he slid back down the wall and gazed into the eyes of his young companion.

"Remain behind me, Daniel Jackson, and do not use your weapon." Attempting an explanation was a waste of valuable time and he was confident that Daniel would follow his instructions without one.

Daniel gripped O'Neill's weapon awkwardly, but kept the muzzle down and nodded. Teal'c slid by him. Moving slowly, he kept them both just out of sight of the enemy, but close enough that he would be able to act immediately when the appropriate moment presented itself. Thankfully, he did not have long to wait.

Five people, all dressed in the same uniforms, rounded a corner to the north of Teal'c's position. They seemed hurried and were as heedless of their surroundings as all the others had been. But more so in this case since two of them were manipulating some sort of hand held device and seemed absorbed by whatever they were doing. Teal'c let them pass into the room, waiting just long enough so that their backs were to him; then he swung silently but with devastating speed, out of his hidden position and fired one shot into the back of each alien warrior. The last had barely time to turn and gasp before he fell twitching to the floor.

"Daniel Jackson," he called, and leapt over the bodies into the room, making certain none were approaching from the other section. There was no one, but from his observations he determined that they had only one or two minutes before more would appear.

When he turned, he saw Daniel stooping, taking a device out of the hand of one of the paralysed aliens.

He held it up. "This looks like one of those things their leader had."

Teal'c was not interested in technologies at this moment, he had to move quickly. Sure that no one else was in sight, he moved back into what he now saw was a passageway between sections.

"Teal'c. C'mon, we should go before someone else comes."

"We must leave no evidence, Daniel Jackson," he replied and with that, he fired twice at the nearest alien still unconscious on the floor. The body jerked once, but as the second blue blast hit it, it shimmered and vanished.

"Teal'c! What are you doing?" Daniel's horror-struck voice came in a rough whisper, but Teal'c had already dematerialised the second alien and was turning to the third when he felt Daniel grasp his arm and repeat himself. "What are you doing? This isn't right."

"Major Carter's orders were explicit. We are to leave no evidence," Teal'c told him, meeting the gentle man's pained eyes. To Daniel Jackson, all life was to be revered, and Teal'c had observed that the Tau'ri placed a peculiar importance upon the treatment of a corpse. Daniel dropped his hands from Teal'c's arm however, and Teal'c could see understanding enter his mind, but his eyes were no less devastated for the fact. At the periphery of his vision, Teal'c saw him shake his head solemnly as the last three victims disappeared.

Turning, he gripped Daniel's elbow and steered him out of the passageway.

~~~SG1~~~

Belatedly it occurred to Jack that it may have been wiser to use his last moments above water to take one deep breath, rather than expending his last reserves of air roaring at Carter. He had no recourse now but to renew his efforts at pulling himself free. He knew it was no use, but neither could he just float there passively waiting to drown; he just wasn't built that way. It wasn't long though, before Jack felt his chest constrict and he had to fight the overwhelming urge to inhale. He had his eyes squeezed shut, all his concentration centred on _not _taking the breath that his burning lungs demanded.

And then he felt her. Somehow, even under the cold water, her fingers felt warm against his cheek. He opened his eyes and for a fleeting moment wondered if he'd already lost his battle against drowning... Carter was there, her face inches from his. One hand was cupping his chin, as she floated closer, ever closer. He noticed her other hand rise and she used it to brace herself against the pillar behind his neck, halting her forward momentum. Her body dropped deeper into the water and aligned itself with his, and Jack, understanding what she intended, thought he might well have a heart attack before his lungs had a chance to give in. He ordered himself to get a grip, for cryin' out loud.

She indicated her intention with a couple of quick hand movements, and suddenly grateful it was Sam who'd found him and not 'T or Daniel, he nodded his assent. She cupped her hand around his face again holding him firmly and...

Her soft lips met his.

It wasn't a kiss. He dutifully opened his mouth beneath hers. Her head was angled in such a way as to ensure a relatively air tight seal. It wasn't even close to a kiss. He felt the life giving breath enter his body and fought the instinct to draw it himself; instead allowing his lungs to fill, his chest to expand with whatever she was willing to give him. And what she gave him was everything she had in her. He saw it in the expression of her face when she disengaged - she had kept nothing for herself.

She pushed off, rising quickly to the surface, still only a few inches above Jack's head. Amazing what just a few inches meant when you were tethered to a damn underwater pillar. He glared back at his wrists for a moment; why was shrinkage constrained to only certain parts of the anatomy, he briefly wondered before his gaze shifted back to Carter floating above him. If he could have spoken he would have growled at her not to do that again. Not to give him every last bit of air in her. It was too dangerous. He could see her face, distorted through the water, and was glad she was taking several deep gulps of air. But just as he felt the burn in his lungs, she plunged back down. He couldn't help the shift of his gaze from her eyes to her lips as she came to him again. And again, he was filled with the life she gave him.

~~~SG1~~~


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Too long it had taken them to reach the room and find Sam. Even when they had found her, her gear and boots on the floor, Daniel wasn't sure until he saw her break the surface, panting. The water was only about a metre away from the grate on which they stood.

"Sam!" he shouted.

"Oh, thank God," she said, gasping. "I don't have much time. The Colonel is stuck down here, I'm breathing for him, but that won't work for very long. There's a computer terminal in that room. Daniel, you can't remove the water. You need to find the code that will release the Colonel's restraints."

She drew in a deep breath and dived under the water.

"I will return to the cross section which we passed, Daniel Jackson, and keep watch," Teal'c said, referring to another area which branched off from the passage that had lead to this room – where they'd been forced to wait yet again for a window allowing them to sneak through. "You must operate the computer."

"Right." And how exactly was he going to do that? he thought. But he dashed back to the computer console, and Teal'c ducked out of the room.

~~~SG1~~~

Sam returned to the Colonel. His eyes were scrunched closed in concentration and she tapped his shoulder to get his attention. They flipped open immediately, fixing onto hers. She could see the strain in them as he wrestled against his body's instinct to breathe. She forced her mouth into a thin, close-lipped smile and pointed toward the surface, hoping he would understand what she was telling him: that their friends had finally made it. When he glanced above them, she knew he understood, and not able to wait any longer she gripped his cheek gently and closed her lips over his. His mouth was impossibly soft, but it was hard to appreciate it – not that she should be appreciating it, she reminded herself. She exhaled; a constant but firm flow of air from her lungs and into his and as she exhausted her air supply her chest throbbed. It felt as though her insides were being sucked out with a vacuum. Struggling now with her own urge to inhale, she quickly reminded him not to breathe and pushed desperately for the surface.

"Daniel! How's it coming?" she yelled between lungfuls. She didn't know how much longer she could do this. Already the trip to the surface was several meters and getting increasingly difficult for her.

"I have no idea what I'm doing here," Daniel called out without leaving the computer lab.

"It's okay," she reassured him. Though she didn't feel so assured herself, the last thing she needed was for Daniel to panic. "Just keep trying."

She wondered though, when would it be pointless to keep trying? When freeing the Colonel was a moot point. Over her dead body, Sam thought.

So she descended back into the russet water.

Again and again she dove; ascending to draw as much air into her lungs as she could fit, and diving again. All the time focusing all her thoughts, all her considerable scope for concentration, onto one thought: Colonel O'Neill needs oxygen.

~~~SG1~~~

_The blue of her eyes was clear even through the rippling effect of the water. Her golden hair floated around her face like a halo and she filled his vision as though she were all that existed in the world. He wanted to reach out for her, to touch the pale skin of a cheek, but his arms wouldn't move. Why? _Angel_ his oxygen deprived brain suggested. But, as she breathed for him, another part of him whispered, _Carter_..._

Sam broke the surface and gasped. She spared a quick glance at the platform; the water had reached it, her movements causing it to splash slightly over the ridge, but thankfully it seemed to have ceased rising there.

She was dizzy now, from pain and exhaustion. The pain of her torture and the lingering effects she felt in every joint, every muscle; the ache in her legs as she tread water, taking great gulps of air; the burning in her lungs. How much longer would her body move as she commanded? Anoxia... the Colonel would be suffering of it by now, soon, so would she. She could hear Daniel; the echoes of his shifting boots and muttering voice, reverberated around the room, bounced off the water.

With another great indrawn breathe, she allowed herself to sink back down. He no longer had his eyes closed when she came to him now; instead he always seemed to be casting about, looking for something. She reached him and his eyes stilled, alighting on hers, and he beamed: a big toothy grin that bloomed over his face ever so rarely. It was infectious but she closed her mouth over his and moved her hand to his chest, satisfied when she felt it expand beneath her palm. Too quickly, there was nothing left, and she drew her lips away.

Her eyes fluttered open and met his. He really did have the loveliest chocolate eyes, she thought hazily, especially when they were smiling at her as they were now. She was tired, so tired. Her chest hurt and her arms felt heavy. She tried to move them, but they wouldn't cooperate. She needed to rest for just a minute...just one minute wouldn't hurt...she felt her eyes close...

_What was his Angel doing? She only ever came, gave him life and went away again, she never stayed. He watched her eyelids shade the blue of her eyes, her body sink a little and drift closer until her head was resting on his shoulder. He smiled again, maybe she wouldn't leave him anymore, maybe she liked it here with him. He tilted his face till her flaying hair tickled his nose. He blinked..._Carter_. His mind cleared and panic seized him abruptly. He bucked..._

Her eyes popped open and she blinked at the sting in them, but the pain brought her a moment of lucidity. She was underwater and she repressed the instinct to breathe, she had to get to the surface, but she wasn't yet sure how, her mind was lethargic, she could feel it; it wasn't working properly. She felt something nudge her and when she looked down, she saw a knee, it shoved her away and her vision refocused. He was scowling at her and she knew now what she was supposed to do. With every last ounce of strength she had left, she moved her arms and legs and rose...

_He watched her shoot up through the water. He closed his eyes, relieved, and clenched his still bound fists at the agony in his chest and willed himself not to breathe. He felt a twinge in his mind, something like pain and his thoughts started to turn fuzzy...Why was it so gloomy and cold? _Don't breathe_, he remembered. If only she would come back, it was never as dismal when she was there... _

Sam coughed and spluttered, took a breath and shouted, "Daniel!" It was little more than a hoarse bellow. Daniel, her team mate, her friend, came running out, but what she had planned to say seeped out of her memory. She tried to grasp at it, but it floated away; her mind supplied her with one word, "Hurry." But she wasn't sure whether she had spoken it. _Air _Sam thought; it was the only thing that seemed clear to her befuddled mind: the Colonel needs air. Sam took in as much as she could hold and plunged back into the depths...

_He stopped his searching, he had found her, his Angel had come back to him. Somehow he knew she would. He didn't understand where he was, why he wasn't allowed to breathe...but she always pressed a finger over his lips before she left, and so he obeyed. He didn't understand why he couldn't use his arms either, maybe because she was an Angel and he wasn't allowed to touch her. But the one thing he did know, though he didn't know why, was that she would return, she wouldn't leave him here alone. And return she did, always._

_He couldn't tear his gaze from her lovely face, as his chest began to fill. He thought maybe he should, but he couldn't remember why. He watched the way the tendons in her neck relaxed, just before she pulled away. It seemed faster than it had the times before. But then her eyes were looking into his and she touched his face..._

Don't breathe,her mind told her, but she had forgotten why. His heart beat under the palm of her hand; his eyes were locked onto hers. For a moment they blurred in her vision, and then crystallized. She found her forehead resting against his...

_She was staying with him this time, she wasn't going away. She closed her eyes, he didn't want her to, but he couldn't tell her. Instead he nudged her nose with his, hoping she would open them, but she didn't. He felt the need to breathe again. She hadn't told him not to this time, so maybe he could. But then something changed...his arms, he had them back. Was he finally being allowed to touch his Angel? He tried to pull them around her, but they hurt...why did they hurt so damn much? He concentrated and slowly, despite the pain, he had an arm around her waist. And then a hand intruded upon his vision, and yanked her out of his weak embrace. Confusion and anger surged within him, before he felt himself topple over..._

~~~SG1~~~

Teal'c burst out of the water, Sam's head lolling on his shoulder, her face in the air. A couple of strokes brought him to the edge of the platform, where Daniel waited.

"O'Neill has been successfully released, Daniel Jackson," he said.

Daniel, on his knees, plunged his hands into the water, getting a grip on Sam and dragging her onto the platform with him. She was pale, and he was sure she wasn't breathing. He looked back up, but Teal'c had already dived for Jack.

"Sam!" he called out desperately, he pulled her onto her back and breathed into her once...twice...and suddenly she was coughing. Quickly pushing her onto her side, Daniel watched in relief as she spat out the last of the water in her lungs and breathed...

Just as Teal'c popped out of the water next to them, with a thrashing Jack in his arms. "O'Neill!" Teal'c bellowed, and Jack's brawling stopped. Daniel watched understanding clear Jack's eyes. He took in a great gulp of air, coughing on the exhale.

Jack struggled to pull himself up, even with Teal'c shoving him. Having his arms bound for so long would have left them weak and sore, Daniel knew, and he left Sam's side only long enough to help heave his friend out of the water.

"Are you okay, Jack? How do you feel?"

Jack spared him a glower. "Daniel, do the words road kill mean anything to you?" he croaked, then flopped onto his back, letting out a few more barking coughs.

Daniel felt the tension he'd held in his shoulders loosen at his friend's grouchiness, and felt a grin tug at him in remembrance. "I think I may have heard it somewhere before," he replied ruefully, but unable to keep the smirk from his face.

"O'Neill. We cannot linger here," Teal'c said, after he'd leaped easily onto the platform.

With a hand protectively on Sam's shoulder, Daniel was readying himself to protest this when Jack turned his head – rather laboriously Daniel thought – to study Sam lying prone next to him. Her lids were pressed closed and her chest rose and fell too rapidly still. When Jack's troubled eyes met his in question, Daniel simply shook his head. She wasn't ready to move, she'd nearly died, for God's sake. But Daniel wasn't sure that Jack was ready to hear that, and so he remained silent, fairly certain their team leader could use some time to catch his own breath.

"Just give it another minute, T," he said, closing his own eyes and taking a breath he let out in a sigh.

Eventually Daniel felt Sam's breathing even out under the hand he kept on her shoulder. She coughed quietly, and opened her eyes.

'Take it easy, Sam," he soothed. "You should rest a while longer."

"Carter? You okay?"

"Yes, sir. I think so," she said, a little breathlessly and propped herself up on her elbows. But her eyes were bloodshot and Daniel could see purple shadows under them. He shook his head, hating that she never seemed to complain when he felt so strongly that she should. He shot a glare at Jack, whom – in the absence of any other military personnel – he blamed for it.

Jack returned it with a face that clearly said _'what did I do?' _Then he dragged himself up to a sitting position and asked, "Okay. Now, does somebody wanna tell me what the hell happened?"

"We got here as quickly as we could. There were some people..." Daniel felt himself blanch and he had to swallow at the memory. Killing was bad enough, but to not leave a single trace that someone even existed, nothing for their families to find... it made him a little sick to think of it. "By the time we got here, the water was already nearly at this platform."

"You found the controls to release the Colonel." Sam patted his knee where he still sat beside her, in congratulations. Her voice was hoarse and she rubbed at her temples as though her head hurt. Daniel saw confusion and worry pass momentarily over Jack's face when he looked at her and then he pressed his own hand to his head. Daniel guessed they both shared an aching head.

"Yes! Well, in a way," he corrected her assumption by holding up the remote device. "We found this on one of the... um... people here," he cringed; one of the people they'd reduce to nothing.

Sam immediately sat up and reached for it. "Let me see it," she said. Daniel figured he shouldn't have been surprised. It would have been like presenting him with a newly unearthed Mayan artefact that showed a calendar extending passed 2012 and predicting the future. The colour started to return to her cheeks as her mind found something to focus on other than her own exhaustion.

He handed it to her, glancing up at Jack. He expected the older man to roll his eyes, or be looking at him expectantly to finish the story, but instead Daniel found Jack's gaze on Sam, a tiny smirk playing at the edges of his mouth as he watched her turning the device over in her hands. It only lasted a second and before Daniel could think on it properly, Jack's face sobered and he shifted his attention back to him.

"I just pressed anything and everything until we heard a clunking sound," he finished. "Then Teal'c dived in, and apparently it worked."

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement when Jack looked at him. But then said, "O'Neill. We should not become complacent. This area does not seem to be in use for the moment, but we have observed much enemy activity not far from here."

"Right, T. Help me up here, will ya?" Teal'c gripped Jack's arm, and with his help, Jack found his unsteady feet.

Daniel did the same for Sam. She swayed for a moment and he kept his arms around her, but she was still engrossed in the alien contraption and didn't seem to notice. "Sam?"

She blinked up at him. Then shook out her legs as she steadied herself and made her way over to the gear she had piled up on the grating. "This is interesting," she said. "The computer inside seemed to have control access to some main systems, but this device..."

"Carter. You can play with your new toy later. Right now, we gotta get outta Dodge," Jack said, but when Daniel looked at him he saw the same threat of a grin at the corners of his mouth, before he looked around. "And also...would anyone have a change of clothes by any chance?"

~~~SG1~~~

**A/N: **Thoughts?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As it turned out, Jack's team had managed to salvage nearly all the equipment they'd come with – apart from his own Vest – and including both backpacks. As a result, he was now newly changed into blessedly dry boxer briefs, socks, pants and t-shirt. Unfortunately the boots he was wearing during his dunking hadn't fared so well, and they quickly dampened his socks, but all in all, he was in a much better mood. He heard Carter step into the computer room where they'd been waiting, backs turned to give her some privacy, as she too had changed - with dry socks and boots, he noted with some envy.

She had her MP5 slung over her shoulder and her Zat in her hands. Jack shoved his MP5 back into Daniel's arms. "Carter, gimme your Zat will ya?"

"Sir?" She blinked at him in surprise. Okay...so he liked the big guns as a general rule, but sometimes circumstances dictated a compromise.

"The shoulders are still a little sore here, Carter," he said by way of explanation. It was a lie of course. His shoulders were sore, all of him was sore for that matter, but he could still easily have used the heavier weapon. Carter's earlier orders to Teal'c would still be necessary; they would have to move with stealth through the compound. She was capable he knew; she wouldn't hesitate, and maybe her rational, logical scientist's mind wouldn't see it the way he did. But he was here, why should she have to do it, when he could? Of course, if she ever found out, she'd kill him.

But the excuse worked and with a concerned knit of a brow, she handed him her Zat. Before she hefted her MP5 though, she strode over to Teal'c and rummaged through his pack attaching the suppressor to her weapon. Jack could live with that. Maybe she would kill; she'd killed before, many times. But she wouldn't be obliterating anyone from existence today.

He turned, "Teal'c, take point."

~~~SG1~~~

Jack rotated a shoulder, trying to loosen the kink as they huddled beside a wall. Thanks to T's Spidey sense, they'd managed to dodge a couple of enemy patrols as they'd rounded corners and snuck through corridors, like kids sneaking through the house at Christmas. Teal'c was saying something in his usual soft baritone, but to Jack it sounded more like the voice of the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons. He pounded the side of his head, trying to clear his waterlogged ears. Damn psychotic aliens.

"...but I believe it may be our only means of escape."

Ah, that was better. "What?"

Teal'c stared at Jack blandly for a second before taking what Jack was sure was a long suffering breath. "The passageway between the two sections of this structure, O'Neill," he pointed around the corner.

"That's our way out?"

"There was also that stairway we found at the barracks," Daniel interjected.

Jack was about to ask what barracks they were talking about - he was _so_ out of the loop - but Carter shook her head.

"No, there's another way. Along the west side." She dropped from a crouch to sit and lean against the wall, drawing her legs up and flexing her ankles. "We just have to get passed the patrols and sentries."

"And you know this how?" he asked.

"There was a schematic of the entire city on the computer station back there."

Jack stared at her a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Of course there was." Why was he even still surprised anymore? If the other teams only knew, they'd all be begging for their own Carter. Now there was an image. Of course, he'd had Carter in stereo... twice. He felt himself wince visibly. And there was a thought he should definitely _not _have had.

"Sir?" Carter was watching him with a knitted brow that made him clear his throat. "I know the way, sir. I can get us there."

He studied her. She was twirling her ankles now, as if all she really wanted to do was stretch them out. And she was pale. Her hair was still damp around her face and shadows marred her eyes. But if she said she could, then she could. He'd learned long ago not to doubt her.

Carter took them down the twisted corridors; right and left and left and right. It was making Jack dizzy. She would halt them every now and again as they waited for a patrol to pass.

"Exactly how much of this schematic did you see, Carter?" he whispered.

"Almost the whole city I think, sir." She was staring out before her and Jack could practically see the cogs spinning at light speed as she studied the map in her mind's eye, aligning the cross sections with what her sight showed her.

"And for how long?"

She shrugged, distractedly. "A couple of minutes."

Jesus, what a brain she had. She was... a very important member of his team. Yep, that's who she was. Jack shot a look at Teal'c, who raised a brow. In Teal'c speak it meant "impressive." No kidding.

"What?"

She must have caught the look. Jack straightened his face and waved a hand at her. "Nothin'. Whatcha got?"

"There's an open area coming up with virtually no cover as we pass through it. But it shouldn't take us more than a few minutes to get across."

He didn't like the idea of being exposed. "There's no other way?"

"No sir. At least, none that wouldn't be worse."

Translation: any other route would take them directly into enemy hands. So the better of two evils it was. He flicked his head to get them moving and it was only a few minutes later – and several more curves and twists – that Sam's fist shot up to stop them. Jack had been so focused on looking over her shoulder that he almost ploughed right into it. That would have been embarrassing.

They all pressed themselves against the wall when Sam flicked a wrist to indicate the corner. So this was it then, thought Jack. They couldn't risk speaking aloud now so Jack looked past Daniel, at Teal'c.

He watched as the big guy moved by them without the whisper of a sound and around the corner. Then it was his turn. But he tapped Carter on the shoulder before he passed her, flicking his gaze at Daniel. They'd leap-frog their way through; that was a manoeuvre Daniel still hadn't gotten the hang of yet – and besides, Daniel couldn't use his weapon to cover them – so he wanted him close to Carter. She nodded and Jack was satisfied.

~~~SG1~~~

They'd managed to get half way across without incident. Sam kept her weapon up and ready, but her arms were aching and wanted to shake. She grit her teeth. No way would she allow it. Why did MP5's have to be so heavy? She should invent some better material than this thick metal; as strong, durable and heat resistant, but not as God damn heavy. And it was her turn to move out and she should really be paying attention, not letting her mind wander. She was having increasing difficulty with that, and it was starting to concern her. In some ways, she wished they'd had more encounters with enemy patrols, as the adrenalin would help her focus.

A blast of red zinged past Sam's ear and she dropped to the floor, dragging Daniel with her. The thought 'be careful what you wish for' sped through her mind and was banished as all extraneous thoughts were. Her arms no longer felt weak.

The Colonel and Teal'c were already firing; bolts of blue flying across the space between them and their enemies. Ten, she counted, maybe 12. With the suppressor on, she squeezed the trigger, firing only one shot at a time. Her weapon had greater range than the zats, so she picked her targets: the three furthest from them, and slightly behind the others. One shot, one kill.

She squeezed off the third round, her target dropping, and watched as two others, the last two, fell to the floor in convulsions.

~~~SG1~~~

Jack didn't waste any time. With Teal'c, they were firing more zat blasts at the downed enemy until every one of them vanished. With some relief, he watched even the blood of Carter's kills disappear. One shot directly in the head; they wouldn't have felt a thing...or been able to holler loudly in agony.

When Jack turned back, he saw Carter's restraining arm on Daniel, but caught her glance at the last shimmering corpse Teal'c was cleaning up. Maybe she wasn't as scientifically detached as he'd supposed she might be. He hoped his own expressions were under better control, and at the same time, hoped hers never would be. He liked her heart where he could see it.

Once they'd managed to get to the first cover, revealing another section of short and narrow corridors that, undoubtedly, twisted and turned every which way and would make Jack feel like he was navigating his way through a serious of Gofer tunnels, he stopped them. They needed to take stock before going any further. He was starting to feel a little lost – a feeling he wasn't really accustom to and decided he didn't much like – and, if he were being honest, he really just needed a second to catch his breath.

The fact that they'd run into bad guys here was making him nervous. Still not wanting to speak, he threw a look at Carter, hoping she'd get it. She seemed to because she nodded and pointed. So at least, Jack thought, _she _still knew where the hell they were going. He took a moment to wish they could dawdle, before he flicked a wrist at her. He watched her push to her feet, more sluggishly than was usual for her. Still, if she felt anything like he did, she had a right to move a little less gracefully. Everything still hurt; his lungs, his arms, and he was pretty sure every joint in his body. He was going to have the longest, hottest soak in history when they got back, he decided.

Jack watched Carter peer carefully around another corner and then pull back quickly. Two sentries, she told him silently. He and Teal'c slipped past her. The sentries presented no problem. All in all, Jack thought, these people were not very vigilant... though he guessed, they weren't expecting an attack from the inside out.

Carter and Daniel joined them and she pointed at the far wall. "That's where we're going."

At first Jack didn't see anything. He squinted at it a moment, then noticed a little more shadow there than there should otherwise be, and as they approached he saw a narrow opening – a very narrow opening – in the wall, that turned out to be a ramp travelling fairly steeply... up. Well, up was good he supposed, but...

"What is this, Carter?"

"As far as I can tell, sir, they used to sink more of the city than they do now. The schematic showed several of these...aqueducts, for want of a better term...throughout. I think they used some sort of pump to draw the water up into these tunnels, where it would flow down them to drown this section."

"And you're sure they don't do that anymore?" Jack eyed the tunnels dubiously.

"Pretty sure..."

"Pretty sure?"

"Positive, sir," She said, with more certainty.

Jack wasn't sure his confidence was much improved by this. Still, if Carter said so... "Okay. But I'm tellin' you Carter, I was never much of a fan of the water slide thing."

"Wait, wait wait. Sam, what do you mean sink the city?" Daniel asked.

"Not now, Daniel," Jack interrupted when he saw Carter take the breath that would launch her into technobabble. Though he didn't really mind as much as he pretended to, this wasn't the time.

"But..."

"Teal'c, go." Jack heard Daniel's jaw click shut with a huff. "Then Carter, Daniel and I'll bring up the rear."

In succession they all squeezed into the tunnel. They had to shuffle sideways up the steep path just to fit. It was becoming increasingly dark till Jack could barely see Daniel's shadow next to him; the air was still and stale so that it made Jack's throat want to close up. It was starting to worry him.

"Are you sure there's a way out here?" His voice may have been a little harsher than he'd intended.

"Yes. I'm sure...sir." Carter's voice wasn't exactly polite either, he noticed. And she had just barely tacked on that salutation. Strange as it seemed, his mood was brightened by her borderline insubordination.

"There is an obstruction ahead," Teal'c said.

"Great." This from Daniel, who was puffing.

"Hang on." Jack craned his neck around Daniel, and saw the light of the alien doohickie flash on in the tunnel and wash over Carter's face. "There," she said, a few seconds later, and pocketed the device.

There was a rumble and a sliver of light speared the tunnel, growing rapidly until it was flooded with sunlight. Jack blinked and turned away. He needed to preserve his night vision a little while longer, so he fixed his eyes at the opening below as they shuffled along, following Teal'c out.

They found themselves on a platform, and Jack gulped at the blessedly fresh air... he didn't even mind the pungent, err, aroma. Evidence of the plumbing Carter had postulated was rusting away in the sun. He kicked at it as he looked around. The ledge hovered just over the top of an expanse of water.

A loud blast split the air and shook the ledge beneath Jack's feet. He stumbled backward to hold himself up against the wall, near the tunnel. Carter had hit the deck and Daniel was on his ass next her. Teal'c was still standing, his legs wide and knees slightly bent, looking – in Jack's estimation – annoyingly unperturbed. Jack let his gaze sweep the area he could see without risking the edge of the platform, but couldn't see anyone or anything.

A few seconds later everything went still again. "They're still under attack."

"Attack?" Daniel asked.

"That's why they sank the city," Carter said. Cue technobabble, Jack figured. He let it wash over him, strangely relaxing, as he peered tentatively around the wall on his side. "...though sink isn't precisely accurate. It doesn't sink, so much as lower. It's a defence mechanism. Most of the city is already permanently underwater; all the vital sections, the civilian habitations. The city is designed to submerge a few more levels when certain areas are flooded. Leaving only the top two levels, where they have their defensive weapons platforms, above the water line."

Jack's ears perked up at that and he glanced back at her. "Weapons platform?"

"Yes, sir. From what I could tell they expect any attack to come from the sea." She swung her gaze to Daniel with a thoughtful crinkle of her brow, "which is probably what they were talking about when they asked us where our vessel was."

"Most likely they don't have any idea what the Stargate is. To them it's just some piece of stone," Daniel said.

Vessel? No, they could get into that later, Jack thought. "Who cares. Back to the weapons, Carter." He wanted to know two things: were they or would they be at risk from these weapons, and...did they want to get their own hands on them?

She seemed to understand. "They're trained almost exclusively out to sea, sir. I didn't have access to much more information than that."

Another explosion rocked the platform and this time Jack was thrown down with the rest of them. Even Teal'c looked like he had to concentrate to keep his feet. Part of the platform cracked, pebbles raining down into the water below. Jack watched in twisted fascination as the fissure zigzagged its way toward him. It stopped an inch away from his nose. That one was too close.

"That was a big one," he heard Daniel say. Jack was still keeping an eye on that crack. "So what happens to the city after an attack?"

Jack rolled his eyes and got to his feet, dusting himself off while Carter answered Daniel.

"They can raise it again simply by pumping the water out. That way the most essential parts of the city are underwater and protected from whatever weapons are being hurled at it." Jack couldn't help wondering just how much she'd seen and learned in the few minutes she was using the alien computer systems.

"Wow, that's amazing..."

"Yes, yes, it's all very thrilling, kids. But personally, I'd like to get outta here before the topside of this place, upon which we are currently standing, is ground into dust." Veering away from the ominous crack, Jack moved to the other side of the platform, hoping he'd see something other than the desolate expanse of murky water.

"Well I'll be damned," he murmured to himself. Balancing on the precipice and peering around the corner, he could clearly see the bridge they had crossed to get into the city proper. And the shore rearing up ahead of it.

He looked over his shoulder at Carter. She was on her stomach with her head over the edge so she could see past him, studying the distance they'd have to cover between their ledge and the shore-line. Jack allowed himself this one moment. No one would notice. He watched her stretch out an arm and tentatively touch the stem of one of the many reed bushes that dotted the area, then rub at it between finger and thumb. She pulled back her hand and pushed it through her mess of blonde hair as she started to rise. Jack turned his gaze away.

"The reeds should be effective cover, sir. I can't tell how deep the water is, though."

"Right." He heard his own voice catch just slightly. Unacceptable. He coughed it out. "Looks like we're going for another swim."

~~~SG1~~~

It was a longer swim than it had looked. Or maybe it was just the fact that they had to keep to the reeds; it made the going much slower. Jack dragged himself up on the muddy bank, and glanced over to make sure his team were doing the same. They couldn't stop and rest here yet, though. The tree line, and the safety of cover was just up ahead at the foot of the hill. Using his arms and legs he crawled through the mud and behind the trees, where he finally stood, his shoulder leaning against the thick trunk of one them.

His thigh muscles were burning, his abused arms and shoulders weren't thanking him, he was wet again, getting colder by the second, and was now covered in mud. He really hated these aliens, right now. He watched that miserable excuse for a city with a small sense of satisfaction as the bombardment continued, and he saw a part of a squat little tower in the distance crumble away.

He wanted to call a rest stop, but knew this wasn't the time or place. They'd have to keep moving a while longer before they could afford to stop.

And he'd rarely regretted anything more than the pressing need to move on when he turned and saw Carter. She was sitting on the ground just behind the trees. Jack had expected her to be studying the alien stronghold as he had been, but instead she was resting her arms on her knees, her wrists hanging limp and her head drooping between them; her gaze was fixed on the pine needles covering the ground in front of her.

"Sam?" Daniel knelt next to her and put a gentle hand on her back. But she didn't so much as look at him.

"Carter?" He was going to ask if she was okay, but changed his mind. She wasn't. That much was clear. But she'd just say she was 'fine' anyway. He wondered how many times that bastard had hit her with that electric bolt from hell. "Can you move? We can't hang around here."

She blinked up at him, as though she needed to clear her eyes... or her mind. "Yes, sir."

She rolled away from Daniel, who caught her elbow when she wobbled on her feet. She dragged her weapon in front of her as though it was as big as an elephant and weighed about as much. But then she just stood, and waited for his order.

"Teal'c, you got our six," he said.

~~~SG1~~~


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Sam had no idea how long they'd been moving since they'd left the foul water of the swamp behind them. She could still smell it on herself though; caked in drying mud. It was starting to make her nauseous. She was cold. So damn cold. She could feel herself shivering but couldn't stop it. The sun was still out; it was warm on her skin whenever the canopy was thin enough to let it break through. But it wasn't enough to warm her. Her mind was starting to drift. She knew it, but couldn't seem to stop that either. Strange, the thoughts that come into your mind when you walk, she thought.

Cookies. She hadn't thought of baking cookies in a long time. She used to enjoy it. Her mom had taught her. She'd said they would start with cookies and move to learning the basics of cooking meals from there. Her favourite was double chocolate chip. Sam could almost smell them. They'd never made it past the cookies.

She stumbled and just barely kept herself from toppling. She thought she heard someone say something, but couldn't quite make it out. One foot in front of the other, she told herself. Just keep moving one foot in front of the other. She felt the squelching of her wet socks in her boots. She stared at the ground; she didn't have the energy to move her head so she could look at anything else anyway. She saw the root poking up out of the ground in front of her, she tried to avoid it but her legs wouldn't move the way she wanted. God, they hurt. Her foot caught, she felt herself trip, but her momentum was stopped by a strong something, gripping her arm and pulling her upright. She blinked up and saw Teal'c. Right. They were in trouble. They had to get to the 'gate and home. His lips moved; he was saying something but she hadn't a clue what it was. She found her feet under her and locked her knees that wanted to buckle. She tried to smile, but didn't know if she'd managed it.

She kept walking.

Her thighs were burning. Think of something else, she told herself, anything else. But she couldn't anymore. Her mind was fuzzy. She held something in her hands, but wasn't sure what it was. Her arms were numb, nothing but a slight, unpleasant tingle in them. Her vision was blurred, black was creeping in at the edges. She thought she should tell someone, but couldn't think how. She felt her legs wobbling beneath her with every step. Pain was all she knew now. Her lungs were on fire; her chest felt small, like it was shrinking and pressing in on them. She didn't know how she would take her next breath.

And then she was stopped. Though it hurt and took a great deal of effort, she lifted her head. Vaguely she looked around and saw Teal'c's big hand leave her shoulder. Daniel was lying down in the dirt a metre away from her, legs and arms splayed. The Colonel was looking around...safe, she thought. To make it safe. She wanted to collapse but couldn't even do that. Her knees were locked in place. She felt herself panting, gasping for breath. She rubbed at her chest to make it grow bigger again; to let the air in, but it wouldn't work. Pain speared up her legs, her spine and ignited in her chest. She clamped her mouth closed to stop the scream. When it finally abated, she felt herself crumple to the ground. Her stomach contracted and she heaved, vomiting until there was nothing left inside her but her own blood. She lay there, quiet, unable to move. She didn't want to move.

She was moved, though. She felt herself being turned over; the single star in the grey sky above the trees hurt her eyes. But she saw them – the Colonel, Daniel and Teal'c. Someone was touching her face with something relatively soft.

"Sam? It's okay, we've got you."

"What the hell did they do to her?"

She could hear them - see their animated faces as they discussed something - but she couldn't grasp the meaning of the words. She felt as though she were floating. Only the steady hands on her grounded her, let her know that she wasn't about to float up into the sky and be lost to the cosmos. The blackness that had been creeping in at the edges of her vision expanded...until the only face left was the Colonel's as he crouched down next to her. His forehead was creased in concern and then he disappeared. She felt something warm touch her hand. Then she didn't feel anything.

~~~SG1~~~

"Are you telling me they tortured the crap out of her, and then she spent God knows how long..."

Sam moaned. Did they have to be so loud? Wasn't it enough that her head was pounding? That everything was aching? She wanted to rub at her eyes to make them open, but couldn't move her arm above an inch. Eventually, she managed to get them to pull apart. A forest. The memories poured back into her sluggish mind...they were still offworld. More stars dotted the darkening sky. She tried to move, to get up. But all she managed to do was turn her head and she couldn't help letting another groan escape.

"Carter?" Something was batting at her face and she tried to move her head away from it. "Can you hear me?"

"Sir?" She wasn't entirely sure who'd asked.

"Yeah, Carter. Wakey, wakey." When her eyes finally focused she found the Colonel leaning over her. He was wearing a familiar scowl. She found it strangely comforting and a part of her wanted to laugh.

She had to swallow to be sure her voice would work. "Sorry, sir," was all she could think to say.

His voice gentled. "You think you can get up? We're not too far from the 'gate and I don't wanna hang around in one place too long."

"Jack!"

"Shut up, Daniel!"

Right, she thought, the men who had captured them might have discovered their escape by now. She had to get up, whether she liked it or not. "Yes, sir."

But there was just not enough left in her to manage it. She started to collapse back onto the ground, but she felt a pair of arms slip under her back to catch her. Teal'c slowly pulled her up, giving her time to adjust. Her legs were still killing her and they felt like jelly, but at least her lungs were only smouldering now and she didn't feel like she was going to pass out again.

"I will assist you, Major Carter." She thought about protesting, but she knew that this time she wasn't going anywhere without help.

"Thanks Teal'c."

The Colonel gave her a small sip of water from his canteen and then told Daniel to take Teal'c's zat. She hobbled alongside Teal'c.

She knew poor Teal'c was taking most, if not all of her weight now. But she couldn't do anything about it. She kept losing a grip on things; zoning out so that when she would manage to focus back in on what was happening around her, it took her a moment to remember where she was. It was at once an eternity and only a few seconds when they finally reached the Stargate.

She felt Teal'c settle her down on the ground. She gazed dazedly around for a moment before she realised they'd made it and she was sitting just near the stone steps, but well away from the 'gate.

She dropped her head in her hand and drew in one long, relieved breath, trying to clear the rest of the cobwebs from her mind. Black boots intruded on the periphery of her vision. When she looked up, she saw they belonged to the Colonel.

"How ya doin', Carter?"

"I'm fine, sir."

He nodded down at her, an enigmatic smirk twitched at his lips and she wondered what he was smiling at. She heard the deep rumble and clash as the 'gate came alive and the first chevron was locked. She looked over to see Daniel punching the symbols into the DHD. For some reason, she wished she had a camera so she could take a photo of him right there in that moment.

She looked back up at the Colonel when the 'gate roared with connection and the event horizon hurled itself out of the centre. He wasn't watching the 'gate, but kept his eyes on the trees through which they'd come. Sam reached up a hand for Teal'c to help her, but...

"I got it, T. You and Daniel head on through, we're right behind ya." The Colonel gripped her hand and pulled her up, his palm was warm in hers and she could feel the heat of his other hand on her waist as he steadied her. "So, were you gonna tell me what happened back there, before you guys effected my rescue?"

"I figured it could wait for the mission debriefing, sir."

He just nodded for several seconds and Sam just barely registered the slurp as Daniel and Teal'c passed through the 'gate.

"That red lightening was a hell of a thing, wasn't it?" His eyes were serious now as they held hers.

"Yes, sir," she admitted.

The fact that he'd admitted to the same was not lost on her. She felt herself genuinely smile, despite her exhaustion, and shrugged. His eyes softened and he gifted her with a smirk of his own. And then he turned toward the 'gate. She'd forgotten his hands hadn't left her until he'd removed them. But he gripped her elbow and helped her up the stairs.

"Sir," she started to say once they'd reached the 'gate, but she didn't need to continue. He released her.

"Your own steam?"

"Something like that, sir."

She shuffled along next to him as they approached the event horizon, and tried to draw herself up so she could step onto the ramp at the SGC with some measure of dignity. If she passed out after that, she didn't really care.

~~~SG1~~~

Showered, clean, dry and warm, Jack was feeling human again. His muscles had stopped their twitching under the hot spray and even the dull ache was fading since he'd taken the nice pills Doc Frasier had pushed at him. The General had met up with them in the infirmary – where they'd wheeled Carter almost the instant they'd come through the 'gate – and upon the Doc's insistence had agreed to postpone the full debriefing till the following day. Though Jack had told him he might want to lock those particular coordinates out of the dialling computer, for future reference.

He pushed through the infirmary door and found Carter lying peacefully in one of the beds. Daniel and Teal'c were sitting atop an adjoining bed, in the midst of a rousing game of Go Fish. Jack shook his head; it was Teal'c's favourite card game. He really needed to make the time to teach the man some poker. Maybe he'd enlist Carter's help. Though that might not be a good idea...she could probably count cards or something. He swiped a chair that was sitting in the corner and made himself at home between the two beds. Chess was about the only game he could beat her in... and he strongly suspected she wasn't really trying very hard.

"Do you have a Queen, Daniel Jackson?"

"Teal'c, are you sure you shuffled these after the last game?"

Jack let the quiet voices of his friends fade into the background as he fixed his eyes on Carter. She was still pale, but at least her brow was smooth and relaxed; her breathing, slow and even. Doc Frasier had said that whatever that bastard had used on them had packed one hell of a punch...something about severe muscles spasms and other medical gobbledygook that Jack wasn't interested in. He just wanted to know what was wrong with her and how they were gonna fix it. He'd only been hit a couple times and he was still feeling sore. From what Daniel and T had told him, Carter had been chained up and zapped over and over - neither of them could say how long it had been - till she'd passed out. Jack had to work to quell the surge of anger that welled inside him at the thought. It was over, they were home, and with any luck Dr Evil was sitting in hell right now, spitting rubble out of his ass. The Doc had said time and rest were all that was needed. He was going to make damn sure she got it.

"I have thirty four cards."

"Eighteen. You win...again."

"Indeed."

Jack glanced over when Daniel slid off the infirmary bed. "Looks like Sam's finally resting nicely. I'm going to get some sleep."

"I too shall retreat to my quarters, O'Neill."

Jack just nodded and watched them leave, noting that Daniel was dragging a little. T checked his pace to keep from overtaking him. They all needed their rest.

Jack stretched his legs out and dropped his head against the wall, closing his eyes. Whether an hour had passed or only a minute, he couldn't be sure when he heard the rustle of stiff sheets. He opened his eyes to see Carter turn over. She was still asleep, and he watched her curl her hands up under her chin in that way she had. He kept watching and eventually the dark lashes against her pale skin fluttered and with a slight crinkle of her nose she opened her bleary eyes.

"Hey there, Carter." He leaned forward in the chair so she wouldn't have to move to see him

"Hi, sir." Her voice was a little croaky, but she managed to focus on him.

"You should get some more sleep. Doc says a few more hours and you'll be feeling better."

With a little cough, she cleared her throat and her voice was stronger when she spoke again. "Do you think Janet will let me out of here, now?"

"Hah! Not a chance."

"I didn't think so."

It was strange to think of it, but she seemed to despise the infirmary almost as much as he did. They were nothing alike, the two of them, and yet... sometimes he felt they were the same. He shook his head at himself.

"Sir?"

He glanced back up at her. Her cheek was resting on her hands now. And he remembered with a sudden clarity the way she'd touched her single finger to his lips to remind him not to breathe without her.

"So you know..." He got to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets; stifling the urge to sweep a lock of hair behind her ear. "I was wondering how you'll write this up in your mission report?"

"Colonel?" Her brows drew together, confused.

"Well, Carter, you gotta admit...I took your breath away."

She beamed up at him. The sun shone bright and warm, though it was midnight outside the mountain, and Jack strode casually into the corridors of the SGC on a mission to get some shuteye.

~~~~~~~~SG1~~~~~~~~


End file.
